Author: larry
Date: Tue Jan 22 16:17:20 2008
New Revision: 14493
Modified:
doc/trunk/design/syn/S03.pod
Log:
Clarification of timing and defaults for initializing various declarators
Modified: doc/trunk/design/syn/S03.pod
==============================================================================
--- doc/trunk/design/syn/S03.pod (original)
+++ doc/trunk/design/syn/S03.pod Tue Jan 22 16:17:20 2008
@@ -12,9 +12,9 @@
Maintainer: Larry Wall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: 8 Mar 2004
- Last Modified: 2 Jan 2008
+ Last Modified: 22 Jan 2008
Number: 3
- Version: 126
+ Version: 127
=head1 Overview
@@ -3580,8 +3580,7 @@
Variable declarators such as C<my> now take a I<signature> as their
argument. (The syntax of function signatures is described more fully in S06.)
-
-The parentheses around the signature may be omitted for a
+As in the examples above, the parentheses around the signature may be omitted
for a
simple declaration that declares a single variable, along with its
associated type, traits and the initializer:
@@ -3590,7 +3589,28 @@
constant :($foo = 123); # same thing (full Signature form)
constant ($foo) = 123; # wrong: constants cannot be assigned to
-List-context assignment is supported for simple declarations:
+Each declarator can take an initializer following an equals
+sign (which should not be confused with a normal assignment, because
+the timing of the initialization depends on the natural lifetime of the
+container, which in turn depends on which declarator you use).
+
+ my $foo = 1; # happens at the same time as normal assignment
+ our $foo = 1; # happens at INIT time
+ has $foo = 1; # happens at BUILD time
+ state $foo = 1; # happens at START time
+ constant $foo = 1; # happens at BEGIN time
+
+If you do not initialize a container, it starts out undefined at the
+beginning of its natural lifetime. (In other words, you can't use
+the old Perl 5 trick of "C<my $foo if 0>" to get a static variable,
+because a C<my> variable starts out uninitialized every time through
+in Perl 6 rather than retaining its previous value.) Native integer
+containers that do not support the concept of undefined should be
+initialized to 0 instead. (Native floating-point containers are
+by default initialized to C<NaN>.) Typed object containers start
+out containing an undefined protoobject of the correct type.
+
+List-context pseudo-assignment is supported for simple declarations:
constant @foo = 1,2,3; # okay: initializes @foo to (1,2,3)
constant (@foo = 1,2,3); # wrong: 2 and 3 are not variable names
